Source: Xiaomi Source: Xiaomi As far as the leaderboard goes, a 10 minute, 29.483 second lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife isn't exactly lighting the newsrooms on fire. That's especially so when you consider the vehicle in question has 990 all-electric horsepower and a so-called Track Package. But remove the human operator from the equation and hand all of the controls over to fully autonomous collection of computers, and it puts things in a different light. It also helps Xiaomi to the first-ever autonomous Nürburgring Nordschleife lap (and subsequent de facto lap record), one we don't doubt will be attacked with full fury from other automakers in the coming years. 2026 Porsche 911 Carrera T Woody First things first: A 10:29.483 lap would be a solid number for any amateur or even lightly skilled driver, let alone in the rainy conditions on the day in which Xiaomi took to Germany to set its record run. Tackling the Green Hell's 73 corners at speed with no real fuss is no small feat, and that a computer-controlled car-- fully sans human driver-- can manage the lap alone really says something about how competent the tech has gotten. Notably, this isn't a record lap time that Xiaomi set, but rather it's the first time a fully autonomous vehicle actually completed a recorded lap of the 'Ring. Add a new category to the lap time board: Autonomous Driving (under Electric Vehicles). All that said, some context is helpful here. When Xiamoi hit the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a human driver behind the wheel of the YU7 GT, it managed a lap time of 7:22.755. That's roughly three minutes faster and the car saw speeds up to 185 MPH (whereas the autonomous car only saw 131 MPH), so the autonomous algorithms and those behind the programming still have a lot of work to do. Regardless, this is a very cool feat that undoubtedly will help further stoke the already red-hot Nürburgring lap time competition, and we can't wait to see who steps up to the plate next. The 10 Vehicles Most Likely To Have Their Catalytic Converter Stolen